THE CMG VOICE

Local subscription-based health care model Qliance closes

Typically most of us have health insurance, and we use it to get the health care we need. This often comes through our employers, and with the advent of the Affordable Care Act, more and more of us are getting it outside the employment context.

For the past decade, Qliance in Washington has offered something different: subscription based health care that costs a monthly fee and doesn’t accept health insurance. Pay a monthly fee, and you have unlimited access to primary care 24/7. The business model is in some ways like a membership to 24 Hour Fitness or Netflix.

From the perspective of Qliance, one benefit of the model was that it saved patients money by keeping administrative costs down, mostly because it was not dealing with insurance billing. And patients and doctors both appreciated that they were able to spend more time together during visits. Thousands of patients have subscribed to this Qliance model over the last decade

Recently, however, Qliance was forced to close for financial reasons.

You can read a Seattle Times article on the closure here:

[Qliance closes after 10-year effort at new approach to basic medical care](http://www.seattletimes.com/business/qliance-closes-after-10-year-effort-at-new-approach-to-basic-medical-care/)